Cell kitchen opened at Arakkonam station

Minister inaugurates new building for computerised passenger reservation system

ARAKKONAM: In a bid to ensure supply of hygienic food to travellers, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has commissioned a cell kitchen at the Arakkonam Railway Station . It was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu on Sunday.

He also inaugurated a new building for computerised passenger reservation system at the station.

Mr. Velu said that the cell kitchen was an extended version of refreshment rooms set up to supply high quality food at railway stations, pantry car trains, stalls and trains. The cost of the project was Rs. 60 lakh.

The Railways would generate an annual revenue of Rs. 14.60 lakh through the cell kitchen commissioned at Arakkonam, Mr. Velu said.

It had vegetarian and non-vegetarian segments on an area of 2,145 sqft. Six more cell kitchens established at Chengalpet, Katpadi, Dindigul, Tiruchi, Erode and Salem stations were to be commissioned, he added.

More such kitchens would be commissioned at Jolarpet, Madurai, Villupuram, Virudhunagar, Egmore and Chennai Central Railway Stations soon. Besides, the Railways had commissioned 13 food plazas at stations in the south zone, he said.

Food Plazas were now functional at the Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Thrissur, Madras Beach, Bangalore, Shoranur, Eranakulam South and North, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai Park and Coimbatore stations. A coffee plaza was functioning at the Chennai Central, he said.

Seven more food plazas would be commissioned in certain other stations in the south zone in the future, Mr. Velu said. Fast food units would be proposed at 18 railway stations across Tamil Nadu.

On the new building for computerised passenger reservation system , Mr. Velu said it had been constructed at a cost of Rs. 40 lakh. This would fetch a monthly income of Rs 1.10 lakh for the Railways.

Simultaneously, steps were being taken to provide better basic amenities to passengers at the Arakkonam station. Various works to a tune of Rs 1.99 crore had been completed and additional works to a tune of Rs 1.10 crore proposed.

On basic amenities provided to the commuters, he said that the Railway Board had approved ‘Rail Neer’ production centre at Palur. The plant was targeted to be commissioned before September 30. The installed production capacity of the plant was 1.80 lakh litres a day. The cost of the project was estimated at Rs 13.5 crore.

Talking about budgetary allocation made for Tamil Nadu in the last five years, Mr. Velu said that Rs. 248 crore had been spent on providing basic amenities to passengers. A total of Rs. 6,000 crore had been spent on various development works in the State. Fifty new trains and 222 new stoppages had been introduced during this period. A total of 130 flyovers had been constructed and computerised passenger reservation system introduced in 70 stations across the State.